For Granted
by SSBFreak
Summary: When a pair of anthro detecives start to earn everyone's trust, Gumshoe feels a bit left out, but soon finds out that he may be the only one able to save the day in the end. Sam & Max crossover, Gumshoecentric
1. New Case

Chapter One: New Case

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It was a slow month for Phoenix Wright.

It had been a long time since the master defense attorney had received a good case. Every other case that had come up had gone to less-experienced defense attorneys, as the cases were never in need of someone as skilled as Phoenix. As it stood, there was little to do other than count the dots on the ceiling tiles.

"_4,607…4,608…4,609…" _Phoenix thought as he reclined behind his desk and stared at the ceiling.

Suddenly, the door to Phoenix's office flew open and in rushed Maya Fey, Phoenix's young assistant and aspiring mystic. She had a paper in her hand and a huge smile on her face.

"Nick!!" Maya said in glee.

The sudden outburst from the young girl took Phoenix by complete surprise, as the spikey-haired attorney fell out of his chair in response.

Phoenix slowly managed t get to his feet again. "Maya, what's wrong?" He asked once he was standing upright again.

"We've got work again!" Maya replied as she shoved the paper into Phoenix's hands. "Some guy named Jonathan McCarthy has been accused of murder and he needs us to defend him!"

"A murder case, eh?" Phoenix asked as he looked over the paper. "While it's too bad that someone died, it's good to get some work again."

"So what should we do?" Maya asked.

"Well, we haven't had any work in a while, so it's probably best that we take it." Phoenix reasoned. "Well, the suspect's probably over at the jail, so let's go over there and ask him a few questions."

"Okay!" Maya nodded. "Let's go!"

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Phoenix and Maya wasted no time in getting over to the jail. After all, this was their first big job in a long time. They wanted to make sure that they didn't screw up. Within minutes, the two were at the jail and close to where their client, Jonathan McCarthy, was being held.

"Is this where Mr. McCarthy is being held?" Phoenix asked the guard by the door.

"Yes, it is." The guard replied. "You visiting?"

"Phoenix Wright. Defense attorney." Phoenix explained, flashing his attorney badge to the guard. "We'll be defending him in court, so we'd like to talk to him."

"Oh! Mr. Wright!" The guard said in realization. "I'm sorry! It's just been so long since we've seen you around. Please go on in. McCarthy is expecting you."

Phoenix and Maya entered the cell and saw their client sitting on a chair. Jonathan McCarthy was a tall man with short, dark hair. He wasn't thin, but he wasn't overweight, either. From his looks, Phoenix guessed that he was either late 20's or early 30's.

"Jonathan McCarthy?" Phoenix asked as he approached the man.

The man looked up and saw Phoenix, then brightened. "Oh! Phoenix Wright! So I take it that you've accepted my invitation to defend me in court?"

"We have." Phoenix nodded with a smile. "However, before we can do that, we need to know what happened."

"I couldn't tell you." Jonathan shrugged. "I was out for my morning run when a police car pulled up and the officer arrested me for murder. Apparently, a witness said that they saw someone that looked like me fleeing the scene of a crime after some guy got shot."

"Do you know of anyone that would try to frame you?" Phoenix asked.

Jonathan scratched his head for a bit, then shook his head. "Sorry, but no. Nobody hates me THAT much." He admitted.

"Well, don't worry, sir." Maya said confidently. "With Nick here backing you up, there's no way you can lose!"

"Thanks, kid. I feel a little better, now." Jonathan nodded.

"Well, if you don't know anything about the murder, it's probably best that we search the scene of the crime." Phoenix said. "You wouldn't know where it is, would you?"

"Well, I heard one of the officers say that the murder happened at the old railway station across the city." Jonathan replied. "I heard that they had sent an investigator there to try and find clues."

"That'd be Gumshoe." Maya told Phoenix.

Phoenix nodded. "Okay. We'd better head out." He told Maya. "Maybe Gumshoe's found something."

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Detective Dick Gumshoe stood alone at an old railway station, searching the area from top to bottom, making sure that he didn't leave any stone unturned. He had been searching the area thoroughly for the past thirty minutes, and although he hated to admit it, he had found absolutely nothing, yet.

"This is ridiculous." Gumshoe muttered as he stood straight and rubbed the back of his head.

"What's ridiculous?"

Gumshoe looked over his shoulder and saw Phoenix and Maya coming over. "Oh. Hey, guys." He greeted. "I was just saying to myself that whoever killed this guy didn't wanna leave any evidence."

"You haven't found anything, yet?" Maya asked.

"Nothing." Gumshoe admitted. "And I've been here for a bit, already."

"Yeesh. The case just started for us and already we've run into trouble." Phoenix shook his head. "This one could be tough if we don't have anything to go on."

Suddenly, the three heard a loud (and VERY annoying) siren coming from nearby and looked in the direction of the noise. The three watched as a police car-convertible torpedoed around a corner and came to an abrupt halt, sending the passenger (whom was creating the siren noise using a megaphone), flying out of the car. The small figure landed on the ground and rolled for about ten feet before finally coming to a stop.

However, as strange as this scene was, nothing could prepare Phoenix, Maya and Gumshoe for what the occupants of the car looked like.

"I'm telling ya, Max! That siren of yours is getting better every day!" The driver laughed as he got out of the car. He was a brown dog standing on his hind legs and as tall as any normal human and was wearing a gray suit with a fedora. He was also walking barefoot.

"Gee! Thanks, Sam!" The passenger, a grinning, white rabbit as tall as a child, replied as he stood up and slapped the side of his head, making dirt fly from his ear. "I've been practicing, you know."

The dog looked towards the three stunned figures standing aside and scratched his head. "What seems to be the problem, citizens?" He asked before looking down at his partner. "Max, is your fly undone?"

"I don't wear pants, Sam." The grinning rabbit reminded.

"Oh, that's right." The dog nodded before looking at the others. "So what's wrong, then?"

"Y-Y-You're…You're a…A giant dog!" Maya pointed out.

"Uh…Huh?" The dog asked, raising his eyebrow. "This strikes you as unusual?"

"That's strange." The rabbit scratched his head. "Where we come from, people see us as normal."

"Well, they see ME as normal." The dog reminded. "They see YOU as a psychotic, deranged rabbity-thing."

"Sounds normal to me." The rabbit shrugged.

"Just…Who are you guys?" Gumshoe asked.

"Oh, you've never heard of us?" The dog asked before striking a pose, placing his hands on his hips. "We're Sam & Max: Freelance Police!"

To be continued…

Author's note: I haven't played 'Justice For All' yet, so I don't know about any of the new characters from that game. So because of that, you won't be seeing characters from that game in this fic.

I know this chapter hasn't really shown it, but don't worry. This fic IS about Gumshoe and it'll revolve around him more from now on.


	2. Competition

Chapter Two: Competition

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"Wait…Police?" Phoenix asked in surprise. "You guys are police?"

"Well, we're also detectives, but Max and I are better known as police." The dog, Sam, admitted.

"Uh…No offense, but I've never heard of you guys before." Maya pointed out. "What brings you here?"

"As a matter of fact, Max and I received word that one of our adversaries has been hiding out in this city." Sam said.

"Honestly, it seems like we have to reeducate the tar outta that guy every month." Max, the small rabbit, said as he shook his head. "I really thought he would have had enough after I put that rabid Tasmanian Devil in his trousers."

"So we just wanted to tell you guys to keep your eyes open for a man named Brady Culture." Sam pointed out. "He's tall, skinny and has an afro the size of his head."

"Then it'll be hard to miss him." Maya said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, now that we've got that out of the way, what are you people doing here?" Sam asked as he looked around the train yard. "From the looks of things, this place doesn't seem like a place people go to, anymore."

"Well, actually, this is the scene of a murder that happened a couple of days ago." Gumshoe explained. "I'm a detective myself and I've been searching this area for clues."

"You don't say?" Sam asked as he walked up the few stairs leading to the landing Phoenix, Maya and Gumshoe were standing on. "Have you found anything yet, detective?"

"I'm afraid not." Gumshoe admitted with a sigh. "I've been here for half an hour already and I haven't found anything, yet."

As he was walking up to the rest of the group, Max saw a bunch of papers sitting aside. His child-like instinct taking over again, Max gave the stack of papers a good kick. However, Max felt his foot strike something hard hidden in the papers. As Max gripped his foot in pain, the object hidden in the papers slid across the landing and tapped against Sam's foot.

"What the?" Sam said as he looked down. He saw a pistol sitting by his foot. Curiously, Sam picked it up.

"Hey! That's gotta be the murder weapon!" Maya said.

"Sweet suffering sliding salamanders on a slick sousaphone!" Sam replied. "Max, your corn came in handy once again!"

"Hey, great!" Max said brightly as he walked over. "And here I was thinking that old thing wouldn't be useful to me anymore!"

Phoenix, wearing gloves, took the gun. "Um…Sam, you were holding this. What if you got fingerprints on this?" He asked.

"Pal, my hands are covered with fur." Sam reminded. "I don't have any fingerprints."

"Nick, we've got some crucial evidence!" Maya said. "Come on! Let's take this thing back to the station!"

"Right. Let's get moving." Phoenix nodded as he looked at Sam. "You guys think you can give us a lift back to the station? We've seen how fast you've gone and we need to get there quickly."

"Can't think of a reason not to." Sam shrugged. "You'll have to give me the directions, though."

"No problem."

Phoenix and Maya rushed back to the police car with Sam and Max, leaving Gumshoe standing on the platform.

"But…I would have found the gun eventually." Gumshoe said. "It was the only spot I hadn't checked, yet. It was just…Pure luck that those two found it so quickly."

After doing a little more thinking, Gumshoe brightened a bit. "Well, it's probably just a once-in-a-lifetime thing." He reasoned. Going over to his car, Gumshoe got in and drove off towards the station. Maybe he'd figure out something after inspecting the clue they had a little closer…

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When Gumshoe arrived at the police station, he saw that Sam & Max's cruiser was still parked outside of it (although had also run into and was leaning on a now-bent parking meter). Parking his car, Gumshoe got out and went inside the station. Just inside, he saw Phoenix and Maya talking.

"Hey, pal!" Gumshoe said to Phoenix. "What did ya find out about that gun?"

"Well, the police ran some fingerprint scans." Phoenix replied. "The only set of fingerprints that came up were those of Jonathan McCarthy."

"Nick, this is bad." Maya said. "That's a good piece of evidence that can be used against us."

Phoenix smirked. "Not to worry. You see, McCarthy told me that he reported his gun stolen a week ago. I asked the police about it and they confirmed it."

Maya brightened up. "So if it was stolen, he couldn't have done it!" She deduced.

"If that's the case, then whoever shot the businessman the other day was wearing gloves at the time." Gumshoe nodded. "That way, he wouldn't leave fingerprints and McCarthy would get the blame."

"Then this could be used to our advantage!" Maya said.

"However, we're not done yet." Phoenix pointed out. "We need to ask some more people about what McCarthy's been doing the past few days."

"Who could tell us things like that?" Maya asked, raising her eyebrow.

Gumeshoe's eyes widened in realization. "His neighbors." He replied.

"Right." Phoenix nodded.

"Don't sweat it, pal! I'll head over to McCarthy's neighborhood and ask the people that live near his house what he's been up to!" Gumshoe said eagerly.

"Don't push yourself, Gumshoe." Phoenix said with a smile. "Sam & Max said that they would go do it."

Gumshoe did a double-take. "But…Don't they have to search for that criminal they're after?" He asked.

Phoenix shrugged. "That's what I thought. You can ask them if you want." He looked into the next room and saw Sam & Max coming. "Here they come now, actually."

"Well Max, it's time for us to head out and start asking people some questions." Sam said.

"Yay! Can I set uncooperative people on fire?!" Max asked eagerly.

Sam gave a chuckle. "Sure thing, little buddy."

"Oh, goody!"

Gumshoe approached the pair of anthro detectives. "You guys are helping us with this murder case?!" He asked. "But…I thought you guys were after this 'Brady Culture' guy!"

"Ah, that guy can wait." Sam dismissed. "He's not dangerous in the slightest. The only thing he's got going for him is his persistence."

"Yeah! Solving a murder case sounds WAY more fun than chasing that putz Brady Culture down for the fifteen time!" Max added.

"If you wanted to, you could tag along, buddy." Sam told Gumshoe. "We'll have a lot of ground to cover and an extra set of hands may come in handy."

"Uh…Sure. Why not?" Gumshoe said, a little dully.

"Just be careful going over there, guys." Phoenix said. "We don't want a repeat performance of what happened on the way over here."

"We wouldn't have run into that parking meter if Sam didn't freak out when I grabbed the wheel!" Max insisted.

"And I say that we wouldn't have run into that parking meter in the first place if you didn't jump in front of me and point outside of the car, shouting 'Jimmy Carter! Jimmy Carter!'" Sam said, looking down at Max.

"I swear that lady was a spitting-image!" Max insisted again.

"Come on, Gumshoe! Doing what you do all alone's gotta get tiring sometime!" Maya told Gumshoe.

"Well…I guess so." Gumshoe shrugged, again a little dully.

"Well, let's get going then, Gumshoe." Sam said.

"Uh…Yeah." Gumshoe said as he followed Sam & Max out the door.

To be continued…


End file.
